With our wounded economy limping along as pathetically as a run-over possum, and no apparent relief in sight, you might be wondering if you can afford to buy emergency supplies and survival gear right now. Car and home payments, light bills and groceries do seem to have most of our attention these days. But does this mean that we just forget about preparedness? Or put off our purchases until “better times?” What if there are no “better times” ahead?

Most often, if you really want something, you’ll find a way to make it happen. So let me offer five ways to come up with the cash and five high-value/low-cost preps.

Fish traps may be as old as fishing itself, and can prove vital during a survival situation. Even if the fish you catch are not big, getting any amount protein is worth the trouble when you’re up against it. A funnel fish trap can be used in two different ways to get you some small fish, either to eat directly or to use as bait for other things.

One way is to build a large, cone-shaped funnel 4- to 6-feet long; and place it in running water, preferably with a blockade around it to direct the fish into the trap. The pressure of the moving water tends to keep the aquatic creatures packed down in the bottom of the trap, but you need to be right there to lift the trap from the water and retrieve the fish, eels, or crustaceans. The other way to make a funnel trap is to have an insert in the trap that allows the fish to go into a container, but prevents them from coming out. This is the style we will work on today.

A tragic tale comes to us from Arizona this week, where a man was found dead Monday evening, still hanging in his climbing harness on a mountain south of Tucson. He had apparently been attacked by bees while rock climbing and stung hundreds of times, according to authorities.

Steven Wallace Johnson, 55, of Tucson, had been rappelling from a cliff on Mount Hopkins. He was an experienced hiker and climber who had gone to the mountain on Friday, said Lt. Raoul Rodriguez of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department. Johnson's dog was also attacked by the bees, and was found dead on top of the ridge from which Johnson was rappelling, Rodriguez said. The Pima County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of Johnson’s death, and determine whether it was a fall or the bees that killed him.

If you are fortunate enough to live within the native range of birch trees, then you have a lot of interesting survival options at your disposal. Birch can provide you with firewood and containers, and the right species of birch can even be turned into a tea and sweetener.

Fire
For friction fire building with birch, you can use the dead and dry branches for your drill and fire board. These materials are effective, but not quite as easy to use as willow or cedar. By far, the best fire related use of birch comes when you burn the papery curls as your fire starter. This birch paper is like a stepping stone between tinder and kindling. Whether wet or dry, these birch bark curls will burn strong, creating a black oily smoke. Any birch species that produces papery bark will be useable, but the white birch (aka paper birch) is the most effective. You’ll need an open flame like a match or lighter for best results in lighting the bark. Spark-based fire starting methods are not particularly effective for lighting the bark strips.